hawkfan68 wrote:Earl Thomas is the 6th highest paid safety in the NFL. There's an argument that 4 of those being paid more can't hold his jock when it comes to their play....Reshad Jones, LaMarcus Joyner anyone...please. He has a legit gripe in my book. He should and deserves to be paid at the minimum Kam Chancellor type of money. Kam earns $12M/yr per Sporttrac.

hawkfan68 wrote:Earl Thomas is the 6th highest paid safety in the NFL. There's an argument that 4 of those being paid more can't hold his jock when it comes to their play....Reshad Jones, LaMarcus Joyner anyone...please. He has a legit gripe in my book. He should and deserves to be paid at the minimum Kam Chancellor type of money. Kam earns $12M/yr per Sporttrac.

Or better yet. Since NFL wages are going up at such high rates, nobody can have more than a 1 year deal from here forward so nobody has to do without!!

Sure...RW will have a legit beef next offseason when he will be entering the final year of his deal. Who knows he might even do the same next offseason as Earl is doing now. 90% of members on this forum would be doing the same if they were in the same situation as these athletes. It's easy to pass judgements when you're not in a similar boat.

hawkfan68 wrote:Earl Thomas is the 6th highest paid safety in the NFL. There's an argument that 2 of those being paid more can't hold his jock when it comes to their play....Reshad Jones, LaMarcus Joyner anyone...please. He has a legit gripe in my book. He should and deserves to be paid at the minimum Kam Chancellor type of money. Kam earns $12M/yr per Sporttrac.

Earl Thomas needs nobody's pity. To date he has already received from the Seattle Seahawks ...... $50,700,000

Per OTC ....... the dead cap money that would be incurred via outright release or trade would be $1,900,000. However, the accompanying cap savings to be realized would be $8,500,000.

Seattle easily leads all other teams in position cost $27,672,136 at safety.

Earl Thomas is currently scheduled to receive $1,700,000 more in salary checks this year than Kam Chancellor.

It's so early in the process. So what if he misses a mini camp. After 8 years, this opens up a great opportunity for 4+ alternatives to benefit from needed coaching and reps.

What Earl Thomas made thus far has no bearing at all. So he made over $50M during his career. He earned every penny of it. That doesn't preclude him from trying to get the best deal for him for his future. The question is do folks believe he's a top 3 safety in the league? I believe he is. He's still playing like it. He should get paid like it. I know I'm in the minority here. That's ok.

hawkfan68 wrote:Earl Thomas is the 6th highest paid safety in the NFL. There's an argument that 2 of those being paid more can't hold his jock when it comes to their play....Reshad Jones, LaMarcus Joyner anyone...please. He has a legit gripe in my book. He should and deserves to be paid at the minimum Kam Chancellor type of money. Kam earns $12M/yr per Sporttrac.

bigskydoc wrote:I think his open market value is a pretty good reflection of his HOF chances.

I don't see how these two things are tied together at all.

HOF is a career defining evaluation of talent. What's going on now in the open market is every other team has the same opinion of Earl as we do..............amazingly talented free safety, but with too many health concerns to give a massive contract extension.

Exactly my point. Earl's career has a HOF trajectory, but he does not yet have a HOF resume. There are legitimate concerns about whether he can continue to produce at the same level that he has in the past, else some team would have taken the gamble. His shot at the HOF is about as big as his shot at big, long contract. If he comes back and produces this year, his shot at both are pretty good.

Sadly the history of holdouts after a delayed return is not in his favour.

It’s strange his agent or his advisors hsven’t more care carefully the downside of his position.

Besides limiting his value to the team he is actively decreasing his value on the open market. It’s a weak bargaining position.

Until we develop a pass rush that will cause opposing teams to be forced to scheme to defend it we will never be able to consistently take the final step. The interior rush needs improvement. The OLine clearly still needs work.

Fortunately, we enjoy a full time front office and organization that continually addresses contingency planning.

Pete Carroll offered some recent insight at safety ...........

(On what he’s seen from the safeties with Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas not here) “Bradley (McDougald) has really taken the lead, and just as he did last year when he played, he just picked right up and came in. He has started a lot of football games in the league, he’s got a lot of background and it shows. He’s very confident and he’s a good communicator and he helps people, just like our guys need to, so he has just embraced that from the first day. So that’s not a problem at all. And then we’re moving guys around. Tedric Thompson has always looked really good on the back end, Delano Hill is another guy that we’re really excited about too. When we picked them a couple of years ago, we thought someday they’re going to be players out here, so they’re making their pitch. Mo Alexander hasn’t had a chance yet because we’re resting him with him with his shoulder that’s in rehab, but Mo’s an exciting player to add in here too. He’s a big hitter, real physical kid, he’s played a lot of football. So he brings experience and toughness-he’s almost 230 pounds, he’s a big kid back there. So it’s a good group, it’s a really good group.”

(On Bradley McDougald’s versatility and experience playing both safety positions) “Yeah, he brings us such versatility and experience that we’re very comfortable moving him around and matching him up with people, as we did last year at times. He can do everything that you need a guy to do. He’s good on the back end, very effective up at the line of scrimmage, and he’s a really good cover guy. So he brings a nice package to us and we don’t have any problem spotting him around doing all kinds of things. He could play in a game, back and forth, in different spots because he’s that well-versed in what’s going on.”

(On Mike Tyson and if he could still play safety) “Mike is working at safety. We moved him there to take a look at him there. Most of his background is at safety. We wanted to see him in coverage role, we wanted to see what he did, he’s playing some nickel spots stuff for us as well. So he’s showing good versatility. Mike’s a good ballplayer. He’s right in the middle of a competition so we’ll see what it means later on.”

(On Delano Hill) “Yeah he was mostly a special teams guy. He’s a particularly good tackler, a good open field player. He’s real fast for a safety. We thought he was one of the best coverage safeties in the draft two years ago. So he played kind of in the nickel spot a lot, and played the slots a lot. We got to see him play a lot of coverage stuff. What’s jumped out is his tackling ability and open field stuff and that showed up on special teams – he did a really nice job. So there’s nothing holding him back. He’s going to get a great opportunity. We’re going to see where he fits in. Like Bradley, the coverage skills that he has really adds to his game too so he could play on the deep end and he could cover receivers and tight ends really without any problems. It’s just a matter of time, it’s just experience and really just opps to let him show what he can do.”

(On Tedric Thompson) “He just needs to play some more. We really are confident in his understanding of the scheme. He’s a really bright kid, takes care of his business, really sharp. So it’s just play time and see how he does when he’s out there. He’s got to make his open field tackles and all those things that will give us the sense of security that he can make his plays when he’s back there. He was a big playmaker in college if you guys remember. He had more pass defenses than anybody in the country coming out, and you see it on the practice field all the time. So really just a real positive upside, just got to get him a lot of turns.”

........................................................... I think they are as prepared as they can be for come what may.

bigskydoc wrote:I think his open market value is a pretty good reflection of his HOF chances.

I don't see how these two things are tied together at all.

HOF is a career defining evaluation of talent. What's going on now in the open market is every other team has the same opinion of Earl as we do..............amazingly talented free safety, but with too many health concerns to give a massive contract extension.

Exactly my point. Earl's career has a HOF trajectory, but he does not yet have a HOF resume. There are legitimate concerns about whether he can continue to produce at the same level that he has in the past, else some team would have taken the gamble. His shot at the HOF is about as big as his shot at big, long contract. If he comes back and produces this year, his shot at both are pretty good.

But he's going to play, either here or elsewhere. It's not like he's retiring and never playing again, thus hurting his HOF chances.

He might not be happy, but he'll play. Earl loves the game too much to hang it up, and my guess is he and his family also love the paychecks.

So even if Earl plays another 5-6 years, and has more injuries, it shouldn't diminish his stats at the end of his career making him one of the best free safeties to ever play.

The problem with paying someone that hold out is, they aren't in game shape and almost always get injured once they get paid.

There's a lot to be said for hitting in camps, and preseason games getting bodies ready to play. When players hold out and get paid, they're all excited and roar right out on the field trying to play like they always do when their bodies not ready for it. A coach can try and ease them in to game shape, but once they're on the field, they're not thinking about that. They're thinking about making the play. And inevitably, a hamstring gets pulled.

Journalism is dead, it's been replaced by creative writing aka fake news.Critical thinking is pretty much dead too. I miss the hearsay rule. The concept of "ethic" has been stripped from the Journalism curriculum.

I expected Sherman to cheer on Earl's holdout because his ego would benefit if the Seahawks defense suffers without him, and it would fit in with his narrative that the front office is being unreasonable in not fairly compensating its core players.

Translation = I’m not happy with only being paid $8.5 million this season and want to be paid more because others are being paid more than me. I want a new deal. $8.5 million/year doesn’t show me enough respect. I need security (cough) for my family. OK, sure thing.

The player is under contract for another year and subject to the franchise tag like any other player. He’s hardly underpaid. He’s in, or he’s not. At present he’s not in. Maybe he doesn’t really want to be either. His destruction of his own trade value by his conduct could mean he wants to stay, or is just foolish petulance, or some oddball negotiating position. Earl is hardly a regular guy. The upside for him could be a new deal where he gets what he wants, or a trade so he goes to some team that will pay him, Alternatively the downside is more stark, He doesn’t get paid until he shows up and then is exposed to league mandated fines for non attendance, or his contract tolls and he remains in limbo.

There is no question about his talent, but in the team’s situation do you pay him what he wants for past performance with league leading significant cap cracking guaranteed money when the evidence is starting to show that his commitment may be waning and his physical abilities are starting to decline? There are of course numerous positions to be taken regarding this situation, pay the man, compromise with him (if that is even possible), let him sit out and hold his feet to the flames, or let him move on and have someone else pay him. It will be an interesting decision which I frankly can’t see being resolved prior to TC or even the regular season.

I love the player’s talent, but his bargaining position is weak. I don’t see the team giving in to him. It’s sad to see the end of a tremendous defensive backfield, but I think he’s as good as gone even if he plays enough to not have his contract toll.

Until we develop a pass rush that will cause opposing teams to be forced to scheme to defend it we will never be able to consistently take the final step. The interior rush needs improvement. The OLine clearly still needs work.

I hope he is traded..We need "I'm in" players..The ones that are hungry enoughto show it every play and want to earn that first big contract.There is nobody on team better than Earl but no player isbigger than the team.It seems after one or two extensions they get an attitudeand that isn't any good for the team play that PC wants.I know it disgusts me to see it after Beast and Kam.

I'm not sure if there's ever been an All-Pro in his 20's with worse leverage. Contrast Thomas's message with KJ Wright's recent interview. Unfortunately for Thomas, some of his current/previous teammates spoiled the negotiating environment for him. Obviously some of those teammates (Sherman and Bennett) continued to take shots at the team despite how well they were financially taken care of and enabled to be themselves. I think the team is just done with it. There isn't any reassurance from the team that "we're continuing to talk to his agent", "we're trying to get something done", etc. It's "we expect him to be here and we're disappointed he's not here...period". That's not even accounting for the depressed safety market.

I'm saddened that we have to face the days when Earl Thomas is no longer playing for us, because I always hoped we'd keep him throughout his career.

I also am saddened that the team will take a hit because going form the best in the business to anyone is always a step down.

But these contract holdouts are always damaging to the team and the player, and for me anyway the fan as well. I don't have the same respect I had for Thomas the person. I understand all the crap about him having a limited window in order to earn all the cash for his career and when it's over it's over, so he has to make money while he can. Totally get that.

However, $50 million is a lot of money, and quite frankly I don't know that there would be any meaningful difference in $50 million vs $52 million. Either the player invests wisely and has more than enough money for the rest of his life, or he invests poorly in which case he'll throw the extra $2 million down the drain as well.

So there's no substantive reason for holding out other than the largely cosmetic numbers on the contract.

I would totally understand if a guy was making stuff-all on a UDFA contract and became a league-leader at his position. That sort of underpayment deserves looking at. But Thomas signed a deal that made him THE highest paid safety in the league based on average salary at the time he signed it. It's not a scrub salary, and it was plenty "respectful". Now he needs to honour it.

The Seahawks have given way too much leeway to players in recent years (Lynch retirement then trade to the Raiders for peanuts while also allowing him to keep his prorated signing bonus, Kam's fines being waived when he came back from his holdout, Bennet's contract after he continually whined about a contract starting a year in.)

ET is one of my all-time favorite players, but I think he is also the best player to make an example of. Waive zero fines, give him no new contract, franchise him two years in a row.

At the same time continue to give new contracts to core players in their last year who don't use the media as part of their negotiation tactic.

This will say if you are in, you will be treated fairly. If you are not, it is not going to end well for you no matter who you are.

ET is playing a little hard ball, so let's play along.He will make about 9M this year. FT for him next year should be about 12M. We get ET for 21M for two years. Tough luck if he is unhappy. IMO, he might miss a game or 2, but no more than that.That is the hammer our FO can fall back on if need be.

Last edited by LudwigsDrummer on Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

For a trade to happen, a team would need to be willing to take the risk that Earl will end his holdout. He only has one year left on his deal. He's 29. He wants a big contract. He has expressed doubts about continuing his football career in the past, and the recent holdout threat does nothing to assuage those concerns. All of that is working against the possibility of a trade, which seems incredibly unlikely at this point.

AgentDib wrote:We were all worried about this for good reason but it's still very disappointing. Kam's holdout really hurt our 2015 season and I'm pessimistic that Earl's holdout will end up a similar way.

Wasn’t it Earl who said in a post game interview after going 0-2 something to the effect of “he needs to be out here with us”. Basically calling Kam selfish for holding out without saying it? Now he is going to do the same thing...

its not the same thing though...

that extra year makes a significant difference.

We're not into the season yet, there still is time for this to be resolved. And that extra year makes a huge difference in contract negotiations.

Move I liked: It's actually a move the Seahawks haven't made -- hanging on to Earl Thomas as opposed to giving him away. It wouldn't make sense for the Seahawks to trade their All-Pro free safety for anything less than a second-round pick, and it seems such an offer hasn't been made. Even a second-rounder wouldn't quite feel like an equitable return given Thomas' talent and how much he means to Seattle's defense, particularly now that several others are gone and with his safety mate, Kam Chancellor, in danger of never playing again. There's the potential for a messy standoff now that Thomas has said he won't report to the Seahawks until his contract situation is "resolved." But the team holds the leverage here, and dealing with a brief holdout would be wiser than dumping Thomas for a mid-round pick.

I cheer for the team not the player. I'm standing by my team right now, and Earl's little hold out is against the team. It will not end well for him or the franchise. You signed, play another season lights out and you'll be re-signed, if the Seahawks don't want you any longer and you have a great season, some other team will sign you. Play the game and enjoy it. Keep the mouths (Bennett, Sherm) out of your head and play.

LudwigsDrummer wrote:ET is playing a little hard ball, so let's play along.He will make about 9M this year. FT for him should be about 12M. We get ET for 21M for two years. Tough luck if he is unhappy. IMO, he might miss a game or 2, but no more than that.That is the hammer our FO can fall back on if need be.

SpokaneHawks wrote:I cheer for the team not the player. I'm standing by my team right now, and Earl's little hold out is against the team. It will not end well for him or the franchise. You signed, play another season lights out and you'll be re-signed, if the Seahawks don't want you any longer and you have a great season, some other team will sign you. Play the game and enjoy it. Keep the mouths (Bennett, Sherm) out of your head and play.

I understand your point about signed deals. Yes, the players should honor contracts they have agreed to and signed. On the other hand, teams don't honor them either. Sherman was under contract. A contract the Seahawks and Sherman agreed to. This is an example of the Seahawks not honoring their agreement with the player. Yes, I understand that Sherm was hurt and his status was uncertain at the time of his release. Still he was under a contract. That's the point.

Many other cases around the NFL that the players get shafted. So it's on both the players and teams to show more integrity with contracts. Neither side should sign or create a contract that either of them have no intentions of fulfilling. I'm very absolutely sure the team and the player have a very good idea of whether they are going to see the contract through at the time of signing. If they don't, then their agent is doing a horrible job (for players) and the front office for teams.

On average NFL players have maximum of 15 earning years from rookie til mid 30s. one shouldn’t fault a player for trying to get as much as they could during that period. Earning years could cut short with injuries, aging etc.

I have been entertained by the whole Earl Thomas saga, how Earl repeatedly hurt his only quest for that big buck long term pay check by tarnishing his brand, and minimizing leverage. haha would love to have a drink with Earl’s agent and hear him vent.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You can call me a homer, but I am not the only one ++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SpokaneHawks wrote:I cheer for the team not the player. I'm standing by my team right now, and Earl's little hold out is against the team. It will not end well for him or the franchise. You signed, play another season lights out and you'll be re-signed, if the Seahawks don't want you any longer and you have a great season, some other team will sign you. Play the game and enjoy it. Keep the mouths (Bennett, Sherm) out of your head and play.

I understand your point about signed deals. Yes, the players should honor contracts they have agreed to and signed. On the other hand, teams don't honor them either. Sherman was under contract. A contract the Seahawks and Sherman agreed to. This is an example of the Seahawks not honoring their agreement with the player. Yes, I understand that Sherm was hurt and his status was uncertain at the time of his release. Still he was under a contract. That's the point.

Many other cases around the NFL that the players get shafted. So it's on both the players and teams to show more integrity with contracts. Neither side should sign or create a contract that either of them have no intentions of fulfilling. I'm very absolutely sure the team and the player have a very good idea of whether they are going to see the contract through at the time of signing. If they don't, then their agent is doing a horrible job (for players) and the front office for teams.

Teams do honor the contract as they are written. Part of the way they are written is with provisions to allow the teams to terminate without fine or penalty (beyond the guaranteed money.) Players don't have such provisions, hence the fines when they hold out. This is the way the CBA is written and agreed to by both the players and the owners. The lack of guarantees to individual players is in large part their fault as they have focused more on a larger piece of the profits for the union as a whole than guarantees to the individual players.

As mentioned above, I think the Seahawks have been way too lenient with players who don't honor their contracts. It started out as a healthy culture the team was trying to cultivate but quickly turned into players with huge egos, and for selfish purposes, taking advantage of and pushing the limits on the additional hospitality the team offered in the name of the community.

hawkfan68 wrote:Many other cases around the NFL that the players get shafted.

Like where?

No one's ever held a gun to a players head to sign their contract. So unless the player's agent is a complete moron, the player understands perfectly what he has to do to get all the money from his contract.

Earl's like every other player that's ever signed a long term high value contract, he knew he had to stay healthy and productive to see the end of it, and more importantly to get an extension.

He hasn't done that, so he's not getting an extension. It's as simple as that..............and he doesn't have the one thing that would help him get that extension, leverage.

So he's holding out, that's his only leverage, and it's not going to work.

brimsalabim wrote:Either sign him or trade him but either way get it done preseason so that it doesn’t become a distraction and so he doesn’t miss all of camp and Pre season only to get a deal done and pull a hammy

I agree about the distraction part, but if Earl comes back, plays well and stays healthy then his value goes way up later in the season and next off season for trade value.

Obviously he can also play like crap and/or get hurt and his value plummets.

But it's in his best interest to come back, kick ass and then his trade value is at the level where we'll trade him..........and not just franchise him in hopes he eventually has a great year.

brimsalabim wrote:Either sign him or trade him but either way get it done preseason so that it doesn’t become a distraction and so he doesn’t miss all of camp and Pre season only to get a deal done and pull a hammy

I agree about the distraction part, but if Earl comes back, plays well and stays healthy then his value goes way up later in the season and next off season for trade value.

Obviously he can also play like crap and/or get hurt and his value plummets.

But it's in his best interest to come back, kick ass and then his trade value is at the level where we'll trade him..........and not just franchise him in hopes he eventually has a great year.

Why would his value go way up? I disagree. The guy was injured 2 x in 8 years after playing over 100 straight games. Once was iron man Kams leg whip that takes any player in the NFL out. Other than that, one hammy issue. His value is what it is. The only thing dropping his value to other teams is he opened his big mouth about Dallas and drove away his market demand, and also stated he wants Berry level contract (which was a mistake by KC BTW)

brimsalabim wrote:Either sign him or trade him but either way get it done preseason so that it doesn’t become a distraction and so he doesn’t miss all of camp and Pre season only to get a deal done and pull a hammy

I agree about the distraction part, but if Earl comes back, plays well and stays healthy then his value goes way up later in the season and next off season for trade value.

Obviously he can also play like crap and/or get hurt and his value plummets.

But it's in his best interest to come back, kick ass and then his trade value is at the level where we'll trade him..........and not just franchise him in hopes he eventually has a great year.

Why would his value go way up? I disagree. The guy was injured 2 x in 8 years after playing over 100 straight games. Once was iron man Kams leg whip that takes any player in the NFL out. Other than that, one hammy issue. His value is what it is. The only thing dropping his value to other teams is he opened his big mouth about Dallas and drove away his market demand, and also stated he wants Berry level contract (which was a mistake by KC BTW)

So you're saying if Earl comes back, plays every game lights out and goes to the Pro Bowl...................that doesn't increase his trade value next off season?

brimsalabim wrote:Either sign him or trade him but either way get it done preseason so that it doesn’t become a distraction and so he doesn’t miss all of camp and Pre season only to get a deal done and pull a hammy

I agree about the distraction part, but if Earl comes back, plays well and stays healthy then his value goes way up later in the season and next off season for trade value.

Obviously he can also play like crap and/or get hurt and his value plummets.

But it's in his best interest to come back, kick ass and then his trade value is at the level where we'll trade him..........and not just franchise him in hopes he eventually has a great year.

Why would his value go way up? I disagree. The guy was injured 2 x in 8 years after playing over 100 straight games. Once was iron man Kams leg whip that takes any player in the NFL out. Other than that, one hammy issue. His value is what it is. The only thing dropping his value to other teams is he opened his big mouth about Dallas and drove away his market demand, and also stated he wants Berry level contract (which was a mistake by KC BTW)

So you're saying if Earl comes back, plays every game lights out and goes to the Pro Bowl...................that doesn't increase his trade value next off season?

How could it not?

Because it's a given he is already at that level. Its 2-3 years from now that the big questions with huge contracts will come into play. It may help a little, just not a lot IMO.

brimsalabim wrote:Either sign him or trade him but either way get it done preseason so that it doesn’t become a distraction and so he doesn’t miss all of camp and Pre season only to get a deal done and pull a hammy

Re: "pulling a hammy". You never know what can happen when the subconscious is not in sync with the rest of the brain.

Seymour wrote:Because it's a given he is already at that level. Its 2-3 years from now that the big questions with huge contracts will come into play. It may help a little, just not a lot IMO.

Huh?

The given is he's an extremely talented safety, but with recent injury history. That's what's driving down his interest, no one wants to give Earl a massive extension when he's been hurt the last two years.

So yes, one full year of health and high level production would most definitely help Earl, and us.

He still may not get a big extension next year, but the interest would certainly be more if he has a healthy productive year. Maybe more teams come into the trade talks, which means we get a 1st or 2nd, instead of a 3rd or 4th, which is what's been reported.

Seymour wrote:Because it's a given he is already at that level. Its 2-3 years from now that the big questions with huge contracts will come into play. It may help a little, just not a lot IMO.

Huh?

The given is he's an extremely talented safety, but with recent injury history. That's what's driving down his interest, no one wants to give Earl a massive extension when he's been hurt the last two years.

So yes, one full year of health and high level production would most definitely help Earl, and us.

He still may not get a big extension next year, but the interest would certainly be more if he has a healthy productive year. Maybe more teams come into the trade talks, which means we get a 1st or 2nd, instead of a 3rd or 4th, which is what's been reported.

Huh? It doesn't help us. We get nothing for Earl after this season. He is a free agent and we are left with nodda, zilch, Cya. And forget about comp picks too. We will be in the FA market next year and those will amount to nothing...just like this year.

Seymour wrote:Huh? It doesn't help us. We get nothing for Earl after this season. He is a free agent and we are left with nodda, zilch, Cya. And forget about comp picks too. We will be in the FA market next year and those will amount to nothing...just like this year.

Seymour wrote:Huh? It doesn't help us. We get nothing for Earl after this season. He is a free agent and we are left with nodda, zilch, Cya. And forget about comp picks too. We will be in the FA market next year and those will amount to nothing...just like this year.

Assuming we let him walk and don't use the franchise tag on him.

Correct. But if we tagged him then attempted to trade him anywhere but Dallas, we likely would still get next to nothing out of the deal. I don't think Dallas would have paid him what he wants anyway, at least that is the vibe I got from their last second offer.

Seymour wrote:Huh? It doesn't help us. We get nothing for Earl after this season. He is a free agent and we are left with nodda, zilch, Cya. And forget about comp picks too. We will be in the FA market next year and those will amount to nothing...just like this year.

Assuming we let him walk and don't use the franchise tag on him.

Correct. But if we tagged him then attempted to trade him anywhere but Dallas, we likely would still get next to nothing out of the deal. I don't think Dallas would have paid him what he wants anyway, at least that is the vibe I got from their last second offer.

That's why you don't trade him, because we won't get value unless he is already signed to an extension.

Seymour wrote:Because it's a given he is already at that level. Its 2-3 years from now that the big questions with huge contracts will come into play. It may help a little, just not a lot IMO.

Huh?

The given is he's an extremely talented safety, but with recent injury history. That's what's driving down his interest, no one wants to give Earl a massive extension when he's been hurt the last two years.

So yes, one full year of health and high level production would most definitely help Earl, and us.

He still may not get a big extension next year, but the interest would certainly be more if he has a healthy productive year. Maybe more teams come into the trade talks, which means we get a 1st or 2nd, instead of a 3rd or 4th, which is what's been reported.

You keep bringing up his injury history. He's had one major injury and has proven he is well recovered from it. He's not Prosise. There's a guy with a recent injury history. IMO, teams are not shying away because of ET's injury history. They are shying away because of what the Seahawks asking in return for him. So the question is why are the Seahawks asking a very high price in return for him? Because they understand what he brings and his value to them. They may not resign him for what he perceives is his market value, but they aren't going to give him away for less than top round picks.

Yes when you miss games two consecutive years due to injuries, it's called "injury history.".............and it's exactly the reason most teams are shying away from trading high draft pick(s) for Earl.